Washington-— The United Auto Workers will fly a banner over the Daytona 500 NASCAR race on Sunday, reminding voters of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's opposition to the auto bailout. The Detroit-based union will pay to fly a plane and banner from 10:30-11:30 a.m. that will read "Mitt Romney: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" — a reference to a headline on a November 2008 New York Times op-ed that Romney wrote opposing a U.S. bailout of General Motors and Chrysler. The union also protested Romney's appearance on Friday at Ford Field in Detroit.
Romney will attend the Daytona 500 Sunday before returning to Michigan for a rally on Sunday night in Traverse City. Romney has insisted he would not have let the U.S. auto industry collapse, but urged a quicker bankruptcy filing without government help upfront.
Most experts have said GM and Chrysler would not have survived in late 2008 without emergency assistance that was approved by President George W. Bush. Romney has sharply criticized the UAW -and the Obama administration for agreeing to give a union health care trust fund significant stakes in both companies as part of the $85 billion auto bailout.
The Detroit native plans rallies in Albion, Rockford and Royal Oak on Monday before Michigan's GOP primary on Tuesday. The Royal Oak event will feature an unnamed "special musical guest."
In the Daytona 500, 31 of 43 cars racing are made by one of Detroit's Big Three automakers.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who has criticized Romney for supporting the Wall Street bailout but opposing the auto bailout, is sponsoring a car at the race -- Front Row Motorsports Car #26, a Ford Fusion driven by Tony Raines.
Santorum has touted his "Made in America" proposals to encourage U.S. manufacturing — though the Fusion is assembled in Mexico. As part of Ford's contract with the UAW reached last year, the Dearborn automaker agreed to add Fusion protection at a plant in Flat Rock in Michigan.
